Preserving Chicago Southland's
History Through Research & Education
Progressive Era Lessons
Examines how Illinois-based reformers challenged injustice during the Progressive Era. Students explore the work of Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells, and Upton Sinclair through primary sources on immigration, labor, and racial violence. Using maps, memoirs, and investigative writing, this lesson highlights how Chicago became a center of national reform and civic activism.
As post-Civil War Industrialism developed new technologies, Chicago was the midwest center of Urban Growth. The Columbian Exposition in 1893 marked a transition of Chicago into a modern city that included technical innovation and industrialized economy, increased railroad transportation like the Illinois Central Railroad, and changed the way people's’ schedules operated. As shift work and corporate schedules became more predictable, America saw the introduction of Leisure Time. Predictable schedules gave people new opportunities to schedule their activities with other people who shared their schedules, developing leisure time activities like baseball teams, cultural events and carnivals. Wealthy corporate leaders combined their leisure time, transportation advances, and a desire to develop exclusive spaces for the upper class to form the country clubs that became the basis for the neighborhoods of Homewood and Flossmoor.
